1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technology for outputting and displaying information pertaining to debugging, in the debugging of a system LSI that includes a plurality of functional blocks.
2. Related Art
In recent years, the scale and complexity of system LSIs have been increasing, and system debugging for such system LSIs is becoming more difficult at an accelerating pace. A system LSI normally includes a plurality of functional blocks, and debugging requires monitoring the condition of the blocks and signal lines connecting the blocks together. Conventionally, the condition information is output from LSI terminals. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-51972 discloses an exemplary conventional debugging method. According to this method, signals in a system LSI are output from an LSI terminal by using time-division to switch between the original input/output function of the terminal and a debug condition input/output function.
However, given that time-division is used in structures such as mentioned above, debugging information is not output while the time period allocated to the original input/output function of the terminal, and a sufficient amount of debugging information therefore cannot be obtained. Obtaining a sufficient amount of debugging information would require the provision of a dedicated debugging terminal, which would increase the cost of the LSI.
The present invention has been achieved in light of the above problem, and an aim thereof is to provide a semiconductor apparatus, an information collection apparatus, and an operation monitor system that externally outputs a sufficient amount of condition information, such as debugging information, that indicates an internal operation condition, without using a dedicated terminal, that is to say, without a significant increase in cost.
Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-51972